Accountant in Prescott office jailed for theft

An unqualified accountant who hid his criminal past in order to work for the deputy prime minister, John Prescott, was today jailed for stealing almost £1m from Mr Prescott's office.

A month after starting work, Robert Adewunmi, who has been jailed for four years, set up a front company and created an imaginary colleague in order to systematically siphon off up to £133,000 at a time.

The gambling addict - whose wife was jailed for six months for helping him - also lied about his qualifications. He used some of the cash to clear debts before frittering away more money on a life of luxury, Southwark crown court heard.

The court was told the couple acquired top of the range cars and built up a property portfolio.

Their home in Slough, Berkshire - bought with a £50,000 deposit from the stolen cash - was lavishly furnished and featured a £10,000 bed.

Officers who arrested the pair on the day the oldest of their two daughters was about to start private school found wardrobes packed with designer clothes.

Passing sentence, Judge Christopher Hardy told Adewunmi - who admitted one count of fraudulent trading and one of money laundering between September 2003 and the same month the following year - he had masterminded an "audacious fraud on a large scale".

"Sadly, it is yet another example of a public body being plundered by a dishonest employee in a position of trust," he said.

"Of course, it was not the deputy prime minister's money you stole, but money entrusted to him by the public ... it was certainly not meant to satisfy your greed and lavish lifestyle."

The judge said the "carefully-planned" fraud had started within weeks of Adewunmi being taken on in the office's budget and data management division in Victoria.

"You were given that employment on the basis of your curriculum vitae, which falsely stated you were a qualified member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. You were no such thing," he said. "Furthermore, your wife assisted you in falsifying that CV."

Judge Hardy added that initial inquiries suggested a little over half the £867,200 stolen would be recovered.